Yeah, I use a BNC>RCA cable. I can’t remember the brand off hand, Lee in Strictly Stereo threw it in.
I have a very good optical cable which I sometimes put in to test if there is any nasties in the mix.
In truth I’m probably using coax because of Simon in S. I think both optical and coax sound preferable to USB for me.
.sjb.
Not sure if there’s any particular reason for the limit, but this is the explanation from the horse’s mouth…
I have just found that Audirvana only max out 96/24 on MM Optical, the reason I could have 192/24 out of it is to the Gustard via USB B and then optical out of the Gustard.
Yeah… Aries G1 here and love it. The main reason for buying it was the range of digital outputs it had. I wanted to use the optical out into the Chord Dac… now M Scaler into a TT2. I prefer the sound from the optical, lowered the noise floor, detail in the lows and reduced the brightness from RF.
I have used coaxial but in my system, ears etc, prefer the optical for the reduced noise floor and depth of sound stage. Slightly narrower but depth was greatly improved.
I use Roon but the occasions I’ve used the app I’ve found it to be very good. To be honest, if it wasn’t for the Roon Radio feature, I would be using it as it does have a nice interface.
Build quality is the same as the ND5 XS2 which I also had for a while. I preferred the Chord DACs over Naim.
The Aries G1 has a good upscaler built it plus DSP as well.
Edit. I was getting 24/192 with optical when I had the Qutest and TT2 on its own. The M Scaler though wont give the 24/192 (with my supernova cable). I just set the G1 to downscale 192 to 24/96. That said, it all comes out over 16-24/705 or more anyway when you have it set to 1m taps.
A little digging into the user manuals of the Linn and Chord DACs, I have found that max sample rate depends on the input devices, for example the Chord Hugo can take up to 192 khz, whereas the Linn Klimax can only accept 96 khz (from the MM or PC).
All great replies and info.
Just one for the Aries guys… how to I connect the audio output from my LG Tv?
At the moment, I have an optical cable from the Tv into the ND5XS:Hugo and then connected to the ATC preamp.
If the Aries replaced the Naim unit and I still use the Chord DAC, it looks like the Aries (transporter) doesn’t have a toslink input (to connect the TV)?
(Whereas the Vega does, but that’s a combined streamer DAC, so no place for the Hugo … unless the Auralic DAC section is better?)
Or have I missed something? 
If you keep the Chord DAC, I can’t see why you would need to connect the TV to the streamer. Can’t you just connect it directly to the DAC?
Whilst there is an optical input on the Hugo, I’m not sure how great it is and its also deeply recessed into the Chord casework … meaning that my QED cable connectors don’t fit. Not sure if there’s an adaptor, but that might degrade the sound?
The QED cable runs through the wall and so I can’t just change the 7m cable to the TV (Hifi is offset to the side of the room, some distance from the TV)
The main reason through, is that at the moment (with the TV optical fed into the Naim), I can control the volume via the preamp for ALL devices (TV, streamer/DAC and turntable).
Connecting the TV to the Hugo would mean having to use the ‘volume’ on the Hugo itself … with no remote control facility.
Hope that makes sense
Basically I want to use the preamp for volume control (via remote control)
There’s much opportunity here, I sense.
You could apply filters, which can give the music different colors. And maybe air conditioners, for better timed signals, giving the waves better resonance ground, fresher sound, and many more…
… not talking about the number and materiel the antennas are made of. Endless opportunities!
No you’ve not missed anything, the Aries is a network streamer so the only “inputs” are Ethernet, WiFi and USB HD.
It’s the DAC that has the inputs. It seems the Naim product ticks more boxes that the Auralic in your situation.
.sjb
Thanks
Does it more inputs than the above? I would be more interested in the toslink input than the Ethernet or USB ones.
They are all outputs except the 2 on the left of the set, Ethernet and high speed storage.
Why would you want a toslink input?
.sjb
So the optical link is not configurable with respect to input or output?
In general, I find toslink sounds cleaner and more dynamic than both ethernet cable and USB.
PS: I think you are right, toslink is only for output.
I’m having difficulty understanding what you would connect to a network streamer via toslink?
.sjb
it is possible with my linn klimax streamer, it can take input via ethernet cable, coax cable and optical.
But this is a different streamer, much more expensive.
I am just starting to look at something less expensive for my office, one candidate is the Aries, does not seem to do what I like unfortunately.
Does the Linn not contain a DAC?
The Aries doesn’t and needs to be connected to a DAC.
.sjb
The Linn Klimax DSM/3 is an one box solution.
I have a Chord Hugo to spare and I want to make use of it.
I think a MM+Roon/Audirvana can do the same jobs as the Aries.
ND5XS2 can take multiple inputs and output single BNC to a chord DAC (doing the role of an input switcher)
considerably more versatile than the auralic.
Plus it’s made in wiltshire 
… and so does the NDX2
Might also look at Vega as well, due to the TV optical not connecting to the Aries transporter. But then will I still be able to use Hugo as the DAC? … or is the Vega DAC actually better than my Chord?
